Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Happy hump day and welcome to Paper Pretties Wednesday challenge. Even though it's the middle of summer at Paper Pretties we're in a festive Christmasy kind of mood, well at least I am. This week's challenge is the last color challenge of the month and the color combination is "red and green". That's why I'm in a Christmasy mood, but you don't have to make a Christmas card, just use the color combination of red and green for whatever theme you'd like.While Christmas is still on my mind if you're reading this and it's still July you have a chance to take advantage of the "Christmas is July" sale at the Paper Pretties store. Using the promo code CHRISTMAS you will get 50% of your entire order. So now's the time to stock up on any of those stamp sets you've been dreaming about and with that discount you don't have to feel guilty at all. This is a fairly clean and simple design. For the challenge I put a touch of green on the snowman's hat and colored the bird red. The stamped image fit nicely into a Spellbinder's ornament die. At the top I used a real button for embellishment, so it's not post office friendly, if I were going to drop this in a mail box I'd have made a card stock button. However I don't mind a visit to the post office, so it can be hand cancelled. I found a patterned paper that was red and green and finished it off by stamping the sentiment in the corner. Here's the deets:stamp - Paper Pretties "Frosty - Clear"ink - Memento Tuxedo Blackpaper - Neenah "Classic Crest Brillaint White card stock; Teresa Collins "Spring Fling" patterned paper; Bazzill "Grenadine Red" card stock"miscellaneous - copics; Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornaments die; baker's twine; buttonHere's the challenges:Paper Pretties PWC321 - Red and GreenCreative Card Crew 67 - ChristmasCrafty Sentiment Designs - Anything GoesPartytime Tuesdays #183- Christmas in JulyThe Corrosive Challenge #204- Christmas in JulyThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

This is a love card. Not in the traditional sense. It's about shoes. Shoe lust, you either get it or you don't. If you get it, then you probably have seen every episode (and movie) of "Sex and the City", stopped women on the street that you don't know to ask where they got their shoes, have purchased shoes that you don't have anything to wear with (yet), stand in your closet just to admire your footwear, you think the higher the heel the better, would never wear sandals without a fresh pedicure, and have or have to have the Sassy Shoes stamp set from Paper Pretties. But I'm getting ahead of myself...It's Wednesday, that means it's time for another Paper Pretties challenge. For July, all the challenges are color challenges. This week's color combination is "Red, Black and White". A crowd favorite that will be lots of fun for you. Don't forget to add your card at the link up area on the challenge blog so you're in it for a chance to win five digis of your choice. We can't wait to see what you make.Red, black and white is such a fun combination. You can go in so many directions, anything from a cutesy country gingham look, maybe a Christmas card, or even a sophisticated and sleek birthday card. My choice was a cute friend card. The stamps in this set are outlines so for this card in order to get a red shoe I stamped on the same card stock that I used to die cut the heart background. Then I cut it out an popped it up on a die cut heart. I made a belly band, stamped the sentiment on that, tied some twine around it, added a charm before tying the bow and attached it to the heart background, then popped the heart with the shoe on top of that. Voila!Here's the deets:stamp - Paper Pretties "Sassy Shoes- clear"ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"paper - Stampin' Up "Basic Black" and "Cherry Cobbler" card stock; Bazzil "Snow White" card stockmiscellaneous - Simon Says Stamp "Floating Hearts" die; Spellbinder's "Scalloped Hearts" and "Hearts" dies; waxed black linen twine; shoe charmHere's the challenges:Paper Pretties PWC319 - Red, Black and WhiteCard Mania CMC#51 - How CharmingCrafting From the Heart #27 - Anything GoesSister Act #65 - Anything GoesThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

The Cat's Pajamas has a "Summer Blog Hop" challenge. The only requirement is to use one stamp or cut up from the recent Summer Release. This card uses a stamp from the "Vintage Summer" stamp set and the flower was made with the "Petal Posies" cut up. If you're interested all the other dies used are listed in the deets below. The leaves were cut free hand and a vein was scratched down the center of them with a piercing tool.The layout for the card is a sketch from Retro Sketches challenge. My original plan for this card was to use no patterned paper but then I realized that I have tons of scraps of patterned paper that would look better as the flags and isn't using the scraps in places like this just why I've been saving them. Speaking of scraps, the mat around the stamp is a saved leftover piece from a card I made for my June 13 post.To go along with the vintage theme of the stamp, shabby chic colors were used and the edges of the papers were sponged with Ranger's Tea Dye ink. These colors just happen to be the colors in the Creative Craft Cottage challenge. To keep the soft look, instead of stamping black on white, this is a Stampin' Up's "Baked Brown Sugar" on My Favorite Things "Natural" card stock. The card was ready posed for a photo when I decided it needed a little something to punch it up a little bit more. Sooooo...a bit of bling was just the thing. Here's the deets:stamp - the Cats Pajamas "Vintage Summer"ink - Stampin' Up "Baked Brown Sugar"; Ranger "Tea Dye"paper - Bazzill "Blossom" card stock; My Favorite Things "Natural", "Berrylicious" and "Pink Lemonade" card stock;Stampin' Up "Garden Green" card stock; Crafty Secrets "Heartwarming Vintage Collection" patterned papermiscellaneous - the Cat's Pajamas Cut Ups "Frame Up 2", "Frame Up", "Petal Posies" and "Bitty Banners" dies; My Favorite Things "Fishtail Flags Stax" and "Pierced Fishtail Flags Stax" die-namics; button; linen twine; bling; Stampin' Up corner punchHere's the challenges:the Cat's Pajamas - Summer Blog HopRetro Sketches #123 - sketchCreative Craft Cottage #25 - colour/floraLeft of Center #36 - Add SparkleSister Act #65 - Anything GoesThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Red, yellow, green and blue - that's a whole lot of color for you. It's week 2 of a month of color challenges from Paper Pretties and those are the colors for this week's challenge PWC318. Play along to be the winner of five digital images from the Paper Pretties store. You can don't have to use a Paper Pretties stamp to play along but we sure do like seeing them and if you do use one, you'll get an extra entry for the winner's draw. At first I thought it was going to be a little difficult but once I sat down and picked out my stamp it was easy peasy. These colors are great for anything to do with children and school. I'm sure you can make them work with other things but I'm a big fan of Sophia so children come to mind for me. This is a very simple card to make. The only special tool used is a corner punch. I stamped Celebrate Sophia on X-press It card stock and colored it with copics, using the blue, yellow and red called for in the challenge, so I just made sure to use a green card stock for my card base and lay out that showed it off. I cut all the card stock and mats with a straight edge cutter. The yellow panel and the image panel are popped up on dimensionals. There's a bit of sparkle on the flowers on her dress and the flowers on the yellow panel were white so I colored them with copics. You color just about anything with copics. There's practically no reason to buy pre-made flowers when you have die-cuts, punches and copics, except of course how beautiful and irresistible they look when you see them sitting on the shelves. But I digress...Here's the deets:stamp - Paper Pretties "Celebrate Sophia"ink - Memento Tuxedo Blackpaper - Stampin' Up "Gumball Green"; Close To My Heart "My Reflections - Jubilee" packmiscellaneous - copics; Stampin' Up corner punch; pearls; Spare Parts flowers; Viva Yellow Quartz Glitter liners; red pearlsHere's the challenges:Paper Pretties PWC318 - Red, Green, Yellow and BlueFan-Tastic Tuesday #43- Anything Goes2 Cute Ink #110 - KidsCrafting From the Heart #26 - Anything GoesThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

On Sunday, Pile It On posts a new challenge. The theme this week is "Flowers" and we've got Dilly Beans Stamps as a sponsor and they are offering three digital stamps as a prize. It's a fun place to shop so be sure to play along. Don't forget that when you play in the Pile It On challenge you have to play in at least one other challenge, of course you can play in as many other challenges as you can find.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy 4th of July! It's time for big celebrations in the USA. We like to celebrate the birth of our nation with a fireworks and we're all about the red, white and blue. With that in mind Jellypark Friends set "Red, White and Blue" as the newest challenge. So go get your patriotic goodies out and have some fun making a card or project to enter into our challenge. This card uses the "Charity Children's Parade" digi image which reminds me of summer days spent down the Jersey shore with my cousins, tramping around the beach and having a blast. Instead of waving banners we used to tie our towels around our necks like superhero capes. The parades could travel onto the boardwalk, under the boardwalk, to the bay or the ocean. We had no plans and went wherever the wind took us. They were the best summers ever. But I digress... Profits from any of the the "Charity" images are provided to the charities that have been picked by Jellypark's owner. There is information regarding the organizations that have received funds right on Jellypark's site, as well as links to the individual charities sites. You will always feel good about purchasing one of these.Here's the deets:stamp - Jellypark Friends "Charity Children Parade" digiink - printerpaper - My Favorite Things "Primitive Cream" card stock; Close To My Heart "Route 66" packmiscellaneous - copics; My Favorite Things "Oval Stax" die-namics; Close To My Heart Midtown Cork Shapes; bling; Little Yellow Bicycle "hope, dream, believe" dieHere's the challenges:Jellypark Friends - Red, White and BlueCCEE1427 - Red, White and BlueCrafter's Cafe #70 - Red,White and BlueMoxie Fab - Wonderful Words ChallengeInky Impressions #166 - Patriotic (Red, White and Blue)Little Red Wagon #244 - SummerThanks for stopping by, come back again.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

It's time to be inspired by color. This week's Paper Pretties challenge PWC317 is "Follow Your Rainbow". A color challenge, a very colorful challenge, that's lots of fun. You can take this literally and/or figuratively. Take a look at the cards from the design team. Color challenges are a great way to start your focus on what you will be doing on your card. For the month of July, Paper Pretties will be having color challenges, every week will be different, but each one's a great combo so you're going to want to play along in each one. We've also got a Christmas in July special. You can take 50% of your entire order by using promo code: CHRISTMASMy card uses one of the sentiment stamps from the "Fun Quotes" set. This set has three truly fun quotes which work well on cards that feature a sentiment on the face. All of them will put a smile on the recipient's face, and isn't that the goal of any card. Because this sentiment is about rainbows I pulled a patterned paper that has a rainbow on it and then pulled lots of colors of card stock to use with it. To play up the color aspect of the challenge I stamped it in blue in on blue card stock. After stamping it I die cut it and then cut two more mats to frame it. The bottom mat has a lot a detail that is lost in the photo but looks fabulous on the card. The striped paper is the backside of the rainbow paper. If you aren't good at matching designs and colors there's lots of companies, like this one, that have done it for you. The last thing I did was look for some colorful embellishments. The sunflowers are so cheery and colorful I thought they'd be perfect on this card and I had some orange glitter dots (I got them at the Paper Pretties store - don't forget the Christmas in July sale) that really pop when sitting next to them, then some red pearls in the corners and that's that. Lots of color and cheer and a fun filled afternoon for me.Here's the deets:stamp - Paper Pretties "Fun Quotes" clearink - Memento "Danube Blue"Paper - Stampin' Up "Ballet Blue" and "Gumdrop Green" card stock; Bazzill "Sunbeam" card stock; My Favorite Things "Tangy Orange" and "Whip Cream" card stock; K & Co "Daydreams" designer paper padmiscellaneous- Spellbinder's "Labels 4" and "Imperial Gold Labels 4" dies; Spare parts Sunflowers; red pearls; Glitter Dots - TropicalHere's the challenges:Paper Pretties PWC317 - Rainbow InspiredFan-Tastic Tuesday #42 - Anything GoesLoves Rubber Stamps #110 - Anything GoesPapertake Weekly - Anything GoesMy card used this week's sketch from I {heart} card sketches #73. I saw the sketch and made by card before I read the site's challenge rules and I didn't follow all the rules so I can't enter it but it is their sketch so it does need to be credited.Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again.